


Flowers on the Table

by crowning_glory



Series: ❧ katchen [1]
Category: Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: Crushes, F/F, First Kiss, Fluff and Angst, Tutoring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 10:02:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18466699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crowning_glory/pseuds/crowning_glory
Summary: ♕Karen and Gretchen are forced to confront their feelings.





	Flowers on the Table

Karen practically throws herself down the stairs when the doorbell rings. She sprints to the door, shoving her younger brother out of the way before he has a chance to open the door and annoy Gretchen to death.

 

She’s already slightly breathless when she pulls the door open, and it’s a good thing because she can play off the gasp she lets out as just trying to catch her breath, not being caught off guard by Gretchen’s beauty.

 

“In a rush to see me?” Gretchen giggles, a sound that Karen wants to hear again and again. “Well, I’m yours for a couple of hours.”

 

Karen wishes that Gretchen meant that in the way Karen’s mind interprets it, and she’s tempted to make a comment but for once the mostly-broken filter between Karen’s brain and mouth seems to do its job because the words get stuck in her throat and she can’t seem to get them out.

 

“You look good,” is what she settles on saying, ushering Gretchen inside. She closes the door and they head down to the kitchen to get snacks and drinks before they hole themselves up in Karen’s bedroom.

 

Karen’s brother trails behind a little, and Karen shoots him a glare when Gretchen’s busy pouring some homemade lemonade. Dylan’s not like Karen—he’s too smart for his own good—and she’s scared that it’s going to cause some sort of trouble. Because the pair don’t only share their blonde hair; there’s also the same defective brain to mouth filter.

 

“I was thinking we could work on algebra today,” Gretchen says, leaning against the kitchen counter as Karen takes her turn pouring lemonade. She hands a glass to Dylan and then pours herself one. “You have a test coming up, right?”

 

“Mhm,” Karen nods, sipping on her drink. She crosses the kitchen to put the jug away. “It’s next Friday. Mom says if I fail this one then she’ll duck—no. God. That’s not right,” Karen frowns, ignoring Dylan’s laugh as she fumbles for the right word. “She’ll, uh—She’ll—”

 

“She means Mom’ll dock her allowance,” Dylan fills in with a smug grin. “Maybe you ought to work on English.”

 

“You’re such a brat,” Karen hisses. “Anyway, leave us alone. Mom said you could only skip church if you were going to leave me and Gretch alone. It’s not too late for me to drag you down there.”

 

“Alright,” Dylan rolls his eyes. He holds up his hands in a mock surrender before downing the rest of his lemonade. “I’m going to the basement to play on the console which is much better than watching you two make heart eyes at each other anyway. Have fun kissing or doing whatever people with mutual crushes do.”

 

And then he leaves with that stupid grin on his face again and Karen can feel her cheeks heating up, trying not to let her mouth drop open. If Gretchen wasn’t stood behind her then she would have lunged at her brother as soon as he’d mentioned kissing. He might be three years younger than Karen and the baby of the family, but Karen wasn’t afraid to whack him one when he deserved it. Her mom and dad might not be too happy when they finally get home from church, but Karen would be willing to be grounded for a week if it meant that her brother got what he deserved.

 

When the shock has somewhat worn off she turns to Gretchen who’s cheeks are also bright red. She seems to snap out of whatever trance she seems to be in when Karen clears her throat, and she fumbles for her algebra textbook, accidentally knocking over her glass of lemonade as she does so.

 

Karen might not be very observant but she knows that right now, things aren’t going too well.

 

She grabs the broom from the cupboard under the stairs and does her best to sweep up as much glass as she can. Then the pair of them mop up the lemonade before it starts to make the tiles sticky. They don’t talk until they’re up in Karen’s room.

 

“Don’t listen to Dyl,” Karen rolls her eyes when they’re seated on her bed. “He’s an ass. He shouldn’t even be here, he just didn’t want to get up for church this morning because he’s lazy.”

 

Karen has an agreement with her parents that she doesn’t have to go to church if she puts the time to good use. Church is boring and the Bible is confusing and even with a kid’s edition with illustrations, Karen doesn’t really understand most of the stories. It was Gretchen’s idea for her to start tutoring Karen (after Karen mentioned that her parents were searching for one and were willing to pay), and it just so happened that the only day that Gretchen was free was a Sunday. Tutoring is the only time that they get away from Regina and Karen is slightly bitter that it’s been ruined this week by her stupid brother.

 

Gretchen doesn’t say anything and Karen shifts awkwardly, opening up the algebra textbook. “So… mom says she’ll dock my allowance if I don’t pass this test.”

 

“You haven’t failed one in a while, though,” Gretchen says, and Karen notices how she’s trying to avoid eye contact.

 

“Thanks to you,” Karen smiles. The corners of Gretchen’s lips twitch. “And I know. She just wants me to keep it up I guess. I mean I can’t really have any less of an allowance than I already have with the number of things Regina keeps dragging us to.”

 

“That’s true,” Gretchen nods. “Okay, so what things do you need to know for this test?”

 

 

* * *

 

They study for the majority of the time. Usually, they take a lot of breaks and have gossip sessions that Regina would kill to be a part of, but this time there’s none of that. And Karen isn’t particularly complaining because they’re able to get everything on Karen’s checklist ticked off, but it does suck that there’s now some sort of tension between them

 

Whether they were just knuckling down and getting work done or whether they were taking breaks, Gretchen’s tutoring was effective. So it makes Karen kind of bummed out that they’ve taken the first approach when they could have been just as productive with the second. But once Karen’s able to complete the questions in the textbook with little help from Gretchen, it’s clear that neither of them has any idea what to do next.

 

Her parents had called her a little while ago after the church service ended, telling her that they were going to head over to their friend’s house for a little while. They asked Gretchen if she was okay with it considering that she would have to stay until the got home in order to get paid for the tutoring, and although Gretchen agreed, Karen could sense how hesitant she was. As soon as Karen told her that they were done Gretchen excused herself to the bathroom and Karen was left stewing in her anger towards her brother, wondering what to do when Gretchen returned.

 

She wants to come clean. Of course she does. But she can’t take Dylan’s word for it; she doesn’t know if Gretchen is interested in girls, and from her reaction, Karen is tempted to say that she doesn’t. She seems embarrassed almost to think that Dylan would even think that they liked each other.

 

God. Karen hopes that Dylan has been saying his prayers, because all hell is going to break loose when Gretchen goes home.

 

“I might just go,” Gretchen says quietly from the doorway catching Karen off guard, unaware that she was even there. “Um. Could you give me the money tomorrow at school, maybe?”

 

“Where?” Karen frowns. “There’s nowhere that Regina won’t be and explaining might be tricky.”

 

“That’s a point,” Gretchen nods, closing her eyes as she lets out a sigh. “Well… can I just get paid double next weekend?”

 

“Um. I guess so,” Karen shrugs. “But it’s hourly, remember. And I’m not good enough at mental math to—”

 

“I’m going home,” Gretchen snaps, and Karen is slightly taken aback. Gretchen clears her throat, busying herself by smoothing down her skirt and checking that she has everything in her bag. “You don’t need to see me out. I can do it myself.”

 

Karen is rooted to the spot as Gretchen turns and leaves, and she’s not able to move until she hears the front door open and close. Then Karen is moving, her hands curled into fists as she stomps down the stairs into the basement.

 

Dylan is too busy playing his game to notice her, but she catches his attention when she unplugs his game console and TV. He whirls around in his seat but he isn’t able to get a work out before Karen starts yelling.

 

“How  _dare_ you?!” She screeches, striding towards him and shoving him as he stands up. “You’ve ruined  _everything!_  She was my only friend and now I’m going to have to see her every day at school and pretend like everything's alright ‘cause Regina can’t know about this. Just wait until mom and dad get home. You're dead!"

 

And Dylan doesn't say anything, just watching her with wide eyes and an open mouth. There are tears spilling down Karen's cheeks now but she's too angry to wipe them away. She's just getting ready to start yelling again when the doorbell goes. 

 

She and Dylan exchange a glance and then they're both running up the stairs, ready to tell their parents what's happened. Karen gets there first and she opens the door but, instead of being greeted by her parents, she's greeted by a tearful Gretchen. 

 

Then suddenly there are lips on hers and they're kissing. And it's not like any kiss that Karen has had before. It's deep, passionate, and it means something. There are hands in her hair and her arms are wrapped around Gretchen's waist and they have to keep pausing to catch their breath but they're still kissing and Dylan is somewhere behind Karen watching it all and this is better than Karen could have ever imagined it being.

 

She doesn't want it to end and. evidently, neither does Gretchen. They kiss until they're panting and their lips are sore, and when they pull away they lean their foreheads together and both of them are still crying.

 

"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier," Gretchen sniffs. "I was just freaked out by how your brother knew, and I shouldn't have taken that out on you."

 

"It's okay," Karen shrugs. 

 

"I love you," Gretchen continues. "And I don't deserve you. I really don't. But I'd love it if we could maybe... I don't know. Make us a thing. Like, go on a date or something and see how it goes and if we feel strongly then... then who knows?"

 

"Not Regina," Karen says and she's completely serious, but Gretchen laughs. "No, I mean it I—"

 

"Shhh," Gretchen cuts her off, pressing a kiss to Karen's lips. "She won't know. It'll be fine."

 

Karen pulls Gretchen inside, nudging the door closed with her foot. She catches Dylan's eye and she smiles. He returns it, giving her a thumbs up before motioning for her to say something. Karen nods, confidence filling her. 

 

"I don't think we need to go on a date to see how we feel," she says. "I think. Um. I think that it's pretty clear. And, like, if you want to be girlfriends now then I'm... well. I'm all for it."

 

"Of course I am," Gretchen nods, and Karen reaches forward to wipe the tears from her face. 

 

They retreat back up to Karen's room, arms wrapped around each other's shoulders as they make a start on compensating for the few gossip sessions they missed earlier.

 

Needless to say... they don't get much studying done over the next couple of Sundays. Or the ones after that.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! ♥
> 
> ⋆[pinterest.](https://pin.it/axdt62ze5gutav)  
>  ⋆[tumblr.](https://ourcrowningglory.tumblr.com)


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